Anonymous asks: "My company recently asked me to write them a report on how UNIX properly handles the switch to Daylight Savings Time, and back again. When our systems administrators received the report, I was somewhat surprised. Many of them weren't aware that 'cron' would run the affected jobs twice in the fall, and not at all in the spring. Apparently, the man pages on some operating systems, like Solaris, aren't forthcoming with details. Others groups, like database administrators, are completely unaware of the differences between epoch time and wall clock time. Are even technical users ignorant on how UNIX handles time, time zones, and time conversion?"

An anonymous reader asks: "I own a portable MP3 player. Recently, my friend showed me several MP3 files he ripped that teach Japanese. I spend much of my day commuting to and from work. Using my portable player to learn new topics strikes me as a good use of that time. Can anyone recommend any educational audio files?"

Kerry McDonald asks: "I have a Linux server running Samba, and my Windows 2000 users are unable to cancel print jobs once they are sent to the server. Has anyone seen this problem? I have checked all the Samba settings, and they all seem to allow user access, but for some reason it still will not work. Help!"

speby asks: "I am a CS student at Northern Illinois University and I recently compiled a working peer-to-peer file web-based file indexing system. I refused to sign their agreement that says I violated their Acceptable Use Policy because I sincerely believe I did not violate them. My system scans a large portion of my school's network hosts looking for openly accessible, anonymous Windows File Shares, and bandwidth usage is minimal. The AUP does not mention scans and I did not 'break' or 'crack' security in any way. I agreed to shut the service down for a period of time until I can figure something else out. I do not agree with their stance on this issue and I believe I have a right to design, implement, and make available such a service. I certainly did not see anything in their terms of service that would disallow such a system. Do these other universities that allow this kind of system care? Why can this system not exist here?" I have no problem with a student being told to shut down a homebrew service if they find it offensive, but I do have a problem with them treating said students like criminals, even when they do comply with their wishes. What should students do, when they are bullied by their colleges into signing violations that are more stringent than the situation merits?

Embedded Geek asks: "I am a software developer with access to (conservatively) $100K worth of emulators, protocol analyzers, and debugging equipment at work. Nevertheless, as in every lab since Frankenstein's, I can never find a meter or screwdriver when I need one - and God help you if you need electrical tape! Over the years I have accumulated a personal toolkit to fill the gaps between what my employer provides and what I need to get my job done. In addition to the basics (a meter, screwdrivers, cable ties, boxcutter, extra power cables, duct tape) I have a number of oddball items that have come in handy (serial cable gender changers & converters, a dental mirror, dental picks). I'm curious what other items slashdotters doing hardware/software development have found useful that their bosses never provide. What about those in the IT/support world?"

Kip Knight asks: "I've been sitting on an invention for six months now. I'm debating whether to 'give it to the world' or patent it. I would obviously like to feed my family on the fruits of my endeavour but don't see much hope in the open source route. My invention improves upon the 80 year old One-Time Pad encryption turning it into a 'Many-Time Pad'. Since I haven't got my export license to speak about the details yet, I won't describe further. The advantages are proof (i.e. unbreakable) against brute force attacks and known-plaintext attacks (unlike the OTP). The disadvantage is carrying around a very large digital key (which could easily fit on one of those USB memory key fobs). My question is this: Could I sell enough $10 shareware GPG extensions to compensate for not locking in 20 years of patent protection (and the $20,000 to patent it)?" While the claims made by the submittor have yet to withstand the crucial test of time (and prying eyes), if you had developed a new form of encryption, what would you do?

em_tasol asks: "While tearing my hair out trying to manage an expanding network and keep the 'Standard' in 'Standard Operating Environment', someone suggested we use Microsoft's Systems Management Server for many tasks that we currently run around doing manually. We are using a Linux-based Samba PDC at the moment, and installing SMS would require a total infrastructure rethink, because it appears to require a Windows PDC to install itself and SQL Server. Does anyone know how I might put something together in the Linux environment that will be compatible with a Samba NT4 domain environment that will perform the same sort of functions as SMS?"

aroobie asks: "I have several different types of servers running at my small office including Windows 2000 Advanced Server, VMS, IRIX, and Linux. My corporate parent wants to force passwords to change every 90 days, which is a good thing, but once a user changes his/her Windows password access to the other servers is denied until I make appropriate changes on the non-Windows servers. Sort of defeats the purpose of changing the password since each users has to give me their new password to make them match on on the servers. Has anyone found a way to synchronize passwords on different systems? Is there software available to do this?"

K-Man asks: "A while ago, I spent a few months at a dying web startup, and, as I looked at the costs of running such an operation, I realized that a tremendous synergy could be achieved by consolidating multiple dying web startups into one umbrella organization. Many functions - bankruptcy filing, creditor evasion, even hiring contractors for fictitious compensation - could be combined under one roof. While the "web incubator" was invented in the 90's, why has no one adopted a similar model for the 00's?"

Jesse Middleton asks: "I was wondering if anyone knew of an ergonomic keyboard that is a ball shape? Someone told me about it, but I can't seem to find it. I would really be interested in it. In otherwords, it is shaped like a ball and you sit it on your desk and elevate your hands and type sideways. Any help would be appreciated!"

Anonymous Reader asks: "I'm writing an article on how creative uses of previously unexploited media are changing the way we think about art. My current examples include Telesymphony, Blinkenlights, and the KTH lasershow. Do Slashdotters know of any other projects that should find their place in my list?"

Page writes "My college (UMPI) is currently reviewing a proposal to collect old hardware from small businesses and assemble machines for those who do not have a PC. The issue came up as to what linux distro to use that will allow us ease of both setup and ability to lock down the machine so once they are out in the field, they cant be tinkered with by accident (thus preventing problems later). These will be used solely for the purpose of web activities (surfing/mail), and word processing and *THATS IT*. Does anyone have suggestions and an idea about how to go about a standardized (or a sort of embedded) configuration across variable hardware?"

skubalon asks: "I have a decent bit of audio equipment for my home theatre. All of it is housed within a wooden entertainment center with a glass door. This doesn't do much for keeping my system cool. I have tested and found that the ambient temperature in the cabinet does not go higher than 100F (37.7C). I know that my receiver has a thermal shutoff, but is this safe? What have other readers done about cooling home audio equipment?"

jrmbadger writes "I just purchased a BREW enabled phone (a Motorola T720...very cool) from Verizon Wireless. BREW is sort of a competitor to J2ME, but I won't bore you with the details. I was very encouraged that Qualcomm (BREW's developer) has put the SDK on the web for free. However, to compile for the mobile, you need an ARM compiler, which runs $1,500. I think it would be really cool to be able to develop apps for my phone, but I'm not going to spend $1,500 on the compiler alone! Does anyone know how you can create BREW apps on the cheap?"

m1cajah asks: "Been scouring the Net for an open-source alternative to The Brain. Specifically, I'm interested in a web version to use for creating a small intranet/portal site at my company. Does one exist out there? I've looked at some of the mind-mapping stuff out there and what's available just isn't as elegant, easy to use, or intuitive as TheBrain. TheBrain has a web-version called "SiteBrain" but it's cost is WAY too high for our little company (only 15 of us) and requires far too much "consultation" to make it work. Does anyone know of a nice alternative?"

dsavitsk asks: "I am a part owner and I.T. manager of a small company. I spend most of my time writing in-house software in Python and VB, and administering the various systems we use. (Our current setup is a Win2k Server, a few win2k clients, a FreeBSD gateway, and a few other things.) I am also in law school, so my time is very short. In general, whenever I can, I will use an open source program over a closed one (hence, most of our software is now Python powered). One of the perks of my job is that I have an open budget and mandate to learn as much as I can about new technology we might use. (I've bought $1200.00 in O'Reilly books in the last year alone!) So, the question. I simply don't have time to learn everything I need to know, and to configure lots of open source projects that don't have a pile of books or decent documentation written about them. I found, in fact, that not knowing anything, it was much easier to set up a Windows domain than a Samba server. We also don't have the money to hire a full time sysadmin. What we would like is to hire a consultant for open source software who would not only come in to install and configure something, but who would also teach me the hows and whys so that I could then pickup where they left off. Clearly, we are not looking for free help, and would be happy to pay market rate for the work. In short, we are looking for people who would advocate for open source not just be producing it and consulting about it, but by administering it and teaching at the same time. So, where would I find such a someone?"

An anonymous reader asks: "Heading says it all really - are Internet news websites ready for the next big world event? news.bbc.co.uk already switches format under heavy load (not sure if this is automatic or not) and i'm sure some other sites do the same. But should a major world event take place in the coming months/years, the Internet is going to be the primary news source for many millions of people, particularly those without access to a quality television news service. How will / can it cope?"

sukottoX asks: "The creepy yet fun holiday of Halloween is just a few weeks away. I'm wondering what sorts of costumes the Slashdot community is planning to wear to this year's Halloween parties (or to trick-or-treating for the younger readers). Looks like this year's big movies, Lord of the Rings, Star Wars, and Harry Potter are gonna be pretty popular. I went as Nick Burns last year (MOVE!). Anyone have some good suggestions?"

ewieling asks: "I will be replacing my current corless phone soon and was wondering if there are any cordless (not Cell) phones that have something better than a NiCad battery. My current cordless phone had great battery life when I first bought it, but soon the battery life degraded until now I only get about 10 mins of talk time out of it. I tried to avoid the 'memory' problems of NiCad batteries, but I still get very little talk time now. My current cordless phone is a high end (at the time I bought it) Panasonic with a keypad, LCD display, speaker phone and headset jack on BOTH the base station and the cordless handset and uses the 2.4 Ghz range, but it still only has a NiCad battery. Can anyone help me find a good cordless phone with the above features that uses better battery technology."

prpplague asks: "a large but often over looked business in the United States is that of making vinyl signs. A Windows application to do the layout and run the plotter/cutter will cost you at least $250. I've been unable to find a Unix based application that does the same thing. Anyone out there working on something to replace this business sector's dependency on Microsoft based products?"